January 31, 2005

Intellectual Property Run Amok

The RIAA? The MPAA? No, believe it or not, it's the military hardware vendors that are about to casually destroy an industry:

For over half a century, kits have been sold that enable military history buffs to assemble scale models of military ships, aircraft and vehicles. But that era is coming to an end, as the manufacturers of the original equipment, especially aircraft, are demanding high royalties (up to $40 per kit) from the kit makers. Since most of these kits sell in small quantities (10-20,000) and are priced at $15-30 (for plastic kits, wooden ones are about twice as much), tacking on the royalty just prices the kit out of the market. Popular land vehicles, which would sell a lot of kits, are missing as well. The new U.S. Army Stryker armored vehicles are not available because of royalty requirements. Even World War II aircraft kits are being hit with royalty demands. This move grew out of the idea that corporations should maximize "intellectual property" income. Models of a companys products are considered the intellectual property of the owner of a vehicle design. In the past, the model kits were considered free advertising, and good public relations, by the defense firms. The kit manufacturers comprise a small industry, and the aircraft manufacturers will probably not even notice if they put many of the model vendors out of business. Some model companies will survive by only selling models of older (like World War I), or otherwise "no royalty" items (Nazi German aircraft) and ships. But the aircraft were always the bulk of sales, and their loss will cripple many of the kit makers.

From the invaluable Strategy Page. Too bad about the kids who'll miss their toys, or the folks tossed out of work, but at least those fulminating about war toys will be happy. Now, just who was it paid for the designs these guys think they own, anyway?

Update: Chuqui writes to point out this issue has existed with model trains for some time. While agreeing that it's a dopey move to alienate your biggest fans, it's not quite the same. The RR trademarks really are private property; I find it hard to argue the same for designs paid for by US taxpayers, not to mention hallowed by some of their blood.

Well, this will all become academic when 3D printers reach consumer price points. A generation of kids will miss the joys of polystyrene model cement, but instead get a quick education in open sourced CAD files.